A Playlist Of Years

Introduction

Partly, this was inspired by the fact thatFritz Lang's "Metropolis" was set in 2026, this year; though the film does not specify that, a number of re-releases put that as the year, 99 years after the film was released.

The initial video is not part of this playlist.

Then I started thinking of songs with years as their titles and thought that might make an interesting playlist.

The Who - "1921" from "Tommy"

This starts gently and hopefully but ends with "Tommy" being mentally destroyed by his mum and her boyfriend.

The Clash - "1977" from The Clash

The year everything changed, and it has not happened since.

David Bowie - "1984" from "Diamond Dogs"

I seem to remember Bowie wanted to use the name "1984" for the tour, but the Orwell estate took exception, so it became the Nineteen Eighty Floor Show. Obviously, there are a lot of songs called "1984", like..

Spirit - "1984" from "Clear"

Very much in the spirit of the book, but it couldn't be anything else.

Wings "1985 (Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five) from "Band on the Run"

This was the first song that came to mind when I thought about doing this playlist.

Prince - "1999" from the eponymous album

I am so glad to have something from Prince here. I have used this in a few of my Vocal stories and have the vinyl seven-inch single and the album on CD.

Pulp - "Disco 2000" from "Different Class"

One that I performed live, but I can't remember if I played bass or rhythm. A great song from a brilliant album.

Zager & Evans - "In the Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)" from the eponymous album

While quite ambitiously pretentious, this has stood the test of time, in my opinion, and the video includes scenes from Fritz Lang's "Metropolis".

Conclusion

Thank you for reading and listening. I hope you found something you remembered and something new in this collection.